Andrew C.

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I received my 2nd fill on Thursday May 1st, 2008. I now have 4cc's of saline in my 14cc band. My doctor thinks I will only need or get about 7-8cc of saline in my band. I only lost 1 lb during the last 6 weeks. I have lost 29 lbs since surgery. Only 71 more lbs to reach the century mark and only 102 lbs until goal. I was really hoping for more weight to be gone, but my doc said it was okay that we were really just getting started with fine tuning the band. I have my next fill scheduled for June 12. My doc said to return in 2-3 weeks if I needed another fill sooner. I will just have to see how it goes and see if I now have the restriction I need to get the scale moving down. I have been on clear liquids for the last 24 hours. I am looking froward to getting back to regular foods and see if this restriction is really there for me.

i received my 1st fill today. I now have 2cc's of saline in my 14cc band. I was shown the x-ray of my band, Homey. Homey is doing his job. I have lost 28 lbs since surgery. Only 103 lbs until goal. I was able to put on some of my size 40 pants today. I am down 2 pant sizes. WooHoo. I am on my way!

I think that I will be switching back to butter.

Pass The Butter .... Please . 

This is interesting . .. . .

Margarine  was originally manufactured to fatten  turkeys.  When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put  all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their  heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get  their money back.  It was a white substance with no food appeal  so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.  How do you like it?   They have come out  with some clever new flavorings DO YOU KNOW….The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

□       Both  have the same amount of calories.

□       Butter  is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8  grams  compared   to 5 grams.

□       Eating margarine can increase   heart disease in women by 53%  over  eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent  Harvard  Medical Study.

□       Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in  other foods.

□       Butter  has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only  because  they are added!

□       Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of  other foods.

□       Butter  has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years . 

And  now, for Margarine..

Very  high in Trans fatty acids .  

 

Triple  risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases  total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and  lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)  

Increases  the risk of cancers up to five fold.  

Lowers  quality of breast milk.  

 
Decreases immune response.  

Decreases insulin response.  

And  here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT  IS  VERY INTERESTING!  

Margarine  is but ONE MOLECULE away  from being PLASTIC……  

This  fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life  and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is  added,  changing the molecular structure of the  substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded  area.  Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

□       No flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it  (that  should tell you something)

□       It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional  value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny  microorganisms  will not find a home to grow.  Why?   Because it is nearly plastic .  Would you melt your Tupperware and  spread that  on your toast?

Share  This With Your Friends.....(If you want to 'butter them   up')!

Chinese Proverb: 'When someone shares  something of value with you and you benefit from it,  you have a  moral obligation to share it with  others'.  So..., DO IT !

Today is the last day of soft food diet. I will change to regular food in the morning. I have some food I bought for the soft food diet I will finish off over the next few days. I will begin to add regular food with it. I have lost according to scales at work about 29lbs so far. I get my 1st fill on March 20th and I hope to get some restriction. I realize it may take a few fills for that to happen. I am doing well on this journey and it has be smooth sailing thus far. I have been really pleased with my results and I am glad to have my Lap-Band. I have named my Lap-Band. His name is Homey, b/c Homey don't play that at least when it comes to food.....LOL. I am regaining energy and doing house chores to help out around home. I did not have the energy to want to do those chores before the Band. I should be able to start really exercising next week. I am happy and excited about my future. Everything looks much brighter now.   

I went to my family doctor this week for my quarterly check up and blood work. According to his scales, I have lost 6 more pounds since surgery 2 weeks ago. I am down a total of 25 lbs in 2 weeks. Another plus of my surgery is that is appears that I may be able to get off of my blood pressure and cholestrol meds. My BP was 128/82 on this visit. Prior to surgery, My BP was running 140-145 over 80-90 even with the meds. I will go back to see him again in 3-4 months for my next check-up. We will see if my BP stays down. If it does, I may be able to reduce or completely come off my meds. I am excited to see what my results from the blood test will be next week. I hope my cholestrol is really down. With meds prior to surgery, it was staying around 170. Without meds, it was over 220. I am hoping that surgery has helped reduce that number down to the 120s.  It would be nice not having to buy all these different meds.

It has been a week and one day since surgery. I went to the doctor today for my post-op visit. I was weighed and I have lost 19lbs. Yeah!!!!!

I will go back for my 1st fill on March 20, 2008. I now change to full liquid diet for the next week. Next Friday, I will go to pureed food. Things are moving along. I am so happy to be banded. 

By the way, my surgeon installed an AP Large (14cc) Band in me. He said it was what I needed and allows a lot of room for adjustment. that is fine with me.

I had to be at the hospital at 6 am Thursday morning (Feb. 14th) and my surgery started at 7:30am. Surgery went great. My surgeon, Dr. Britt, said my liver looked great and was small. He said he could tell I followed my pre-op deit to the letter. I am glad he was pleased. I was feeling well enough that I was up walking the halls of the hospital by 2pm. Dr. Britt was planning to keep me until Friday morning. Since I am doing so well, He let me leave last night. I got home about 9pm. I was able to sleep in my bed. I would sleep for about 2-3 hours then get up to walk around for a few mintues. Then I would go back to bed. The walking helps with the gas pain. I just want to let everyone know, I am home and doing fine. Thanks for all of the prayers and support.

Here is a nice support forum to visit.

www.lapbandtalk.com

The folks there are really nice and helpful.

Completed my pre-registration at Marshall Medical North today. They drew blood and ran an EKG on me. They checked my blood pressure, temp., and pulse. Weighed me. I  spoke with the anesthesiologist. I am ready to go.

I start my pre-op diet in the morning. I am excited.

FEBRUARY 14, 2008. 

My new life and the journey to a new thinner me will begin on Valentine's Day. 

Surgery will be at Marshall Medical Center North in Guntersville, AL.

Dr. Stephen Britt and his partnet Dr. Grooves will perform the surgery. Their staff has been wonderful. Amy provided a very imformative pre-op one-on-one training course today. Elizabeth will call in the morning to confirm my surgery date and time. I will remain in the hospital 48 hours since I have a Trach. 

Things are finally moving ahead. I cannot wait. I will start my pre-op diet on February 8. Then 6 short days, I will head to Guntersville for a few days. My journey has truly just began!